Mirom (Capital of Kirarica)
Mirom is the capital and the largest city of Kirarica. With 6,137,924 inhabitants (2016), Mirom is home to one sixth of Kirarica's population and is the largest city in Northern Europe. The city lies on the North European Plain in the Mirom Region of Kirarica. Mirom's territory covers 1,737.9 km2 and lies between one and ten metres (3 feet 3 inches and 32 feet 10 inches) above sea level, on a flat plain. Mirom was founded in 1401 as a trading post and soon became a town as a part of the Hanseatic League. Mirom's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Mirom was the European Capital of Culture during 2008. Mirom hosted the 2012 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2002,2003 and 2016, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2016, Mirom received 16.3 million visitors. It is served by two international airports Mirom Lietu International Airport and Mirom Bauska International Airport. Mirom is a member of Eurocities, the Union of North European Cities (UBC) and Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU). Founding In 1401 the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonian Order signed a treaty making relations better . It also stated they should build a trading post on the border. They built the post on the river Nemunėlis. Geography Administrative Divisions Centmiests; 5 square kilometres Vidzeme District; 1,102 square kilometres Aukstaitija Suburb: 3,203 square kilometres Zemaitija Suburb; 3,023 square kilometres Veststers District; 72 square kilometres Kurzeme Suburb; 2,136 square kilometres Government The head of the city government in Mirom is the mayor. Incumbent mayor Domnik Morads, who is a member of the Socialdemokratinė party, took office on 4 July 2013. The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city. The Council consists of 60 members who are elected every four years. The Presidium of the Mirom City Council consists of the Chairman of the Mirom City Council and the representatives delegated by the political parties or party blocks elected to the City Council. Sports Mirom has a rich basketball history. In the 1950s Mirom Vytautas became the best club in the Soviet Union and also in Europe, winning the first three editions of the European Cup for Men's Champions Clubs from 1958 to 1960.70 In 1960, Vytautas was not the only team from Mirom to take the European crown. Mirom Mindaugs clinched their first title in the European Cup for Women's Champion Clubs, turning Mirom into the capital city of European basketball because for the first and, so far, only time in the history of European basketball, clubs from the same city were concurrent European Men's and Women's club champions.71 In 2015, Mirom was one of the hosts for EuroBasket 2015. Sports clubs * Basketball ** Mirom Vytautas – a professional basketball team that is a three-time Kirarian champion. VEF also participates in high-level international competition such as Eurocup ** Bauks LMT – a men's basketball team, two-time Kirarian champion, as well as the 2008 FIBA EuroCup winner ** Mirom Mindaugs – a women's basketball team, which between 1960 and 1982 won eighteen FIBA EuroLeague Women titles * Football ** Ryts FC – a football club established in 1991. The club won fourteen successive Kirarian Higher League titles. For a long time it provided the core of the Kirarian national football team Sports facilities * Ryts FC Stadium – a football stadium, built in 2000. It is the main stadium used for games of the Kirarian national football team * Nemunelis Stadium – a stadium built in 1958, used for both football and athletics * Mirom Universitets Stadions Sports events * Eurobasket 1937 * 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships * EuroBasket Women 2009 * 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships * Riga Marathon * 2013 World Women's Curling Championship * 2014 Cricket Latvia play Masstor Cricket Club * EuroBasket 2015 * 2016 Men's World Floorball Championships * 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games Transport Mirom, with its central geographic position and concentration of population, has always been the infrastructural hub of Kirarica. Several national roads begin in Mirom, and European route E22 crosses Mirom from the east and west, while the Via Baltica crosses Mirom from the south and north. As a city situated by a river, Mirom also has several bridges. The oldest standing bridge is the Railway Bridge, which is also the most major railroad-carrying bridge in Mirom. The Southern Bridge was the biggest construction project in the Baltic states in 20 years, and its purpose was to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre. Another major construction project is the planned Mirom Northern Transport Corridor; its first segment detailed project was completed in 2015 Rail Metro The Mirom Metro is the fifth-longest rapid transit system The Metro is the fifth longest metro system in the world. The system serves 196 stations and was formed from several private companies, including the world's second underground electric line, Pietine Miets Traukins. It dates from 1921. Over two million journeys are made every day on the network, over 500 million each year. An investment programme is attempting to reduce congestion and improve reliability, including €7.7 billion spent before the 2016 Summer Olympics. Suburban There are 241 railway stations in the Mirom Travelon Zones on an extensive above-ground suburban railway network. South Mirom, particularly, has a high concentration of railways as it has fewer metro lines. Most rail lines terminate around the centre of Mirom, running into 10 terminal stations, with the exception of the Nemulinija trains connecting Riga in the north and Panevezys in the south. Mirom has Kirarica's busiest station by number of passengers – Centrine, with over 184 million people using the interchange station complex each year. Soulie Station is the busiest station in Europe by the number of trains passing. With the need for more rail capacity in Mirom, MRE is due to open in 2018. It will be a new railway line running east to west through Mirom and into other Kirarian Counties with a branch to Letu Airport. It is Europe's biggest construction project, with a €15 billion projected cost. Inter-city and international Centrine is the main terminal for high speed GGT services, as well as commuter suburban Nemulinija and inter-city Kurzemiu KGT services Mirom is the centre of the Kirarian Railways network, with 70 percent of rail journeys starting or ending in Mirom. Like suburban rail services, regional and inter-city trains depart from several termini around the city centre, linking Mirom with the rest of Kirarica including Riga, Vilnius, Panevezys, Palanga, Klaipeda, Liepaja, Valmiera, Daugavpils, Jelgava, Siauliai, Kaunas, Minsk, Polock, Brest, Tallinn and Parmu. Some international railway services to Europe were opened not long ago in the 21th century such as Eurorail and KPK Freight Although rail freight levels are far down compared to their height, significant quantities of cargo are also carried into and out of Mirom by rail; chiefly building materials and landfill waste. As a major hub of the Kirarian railway network, Mirom's tracks also carry large amounts of freight for the other regions, such as container freight from the Europe, and nuclear waste for reprocessing at Baksa. Mirom has two active airport that serves commercial airlines—the Mirom Letu International Airport (MLI), built in 1923. Renovation and modernization of the airport was completed in 2001, coinciding with the 700th anniversary of the city. In 2006, a new terminal was opened. Extension of the second runway was completed in October 2008, and the airport is now able to accommodate large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 747, 757, 767 and 777. Another terminal extension is under construction as of 2014. The annual number of passengers has grown from 4,310,000 in 1993 to 24.7 million in 2014, making Mirom Lietu International Airport the largest in Northern Europe. The second is Mirom Bauska International Airport (MBI) Built in 1974 and has one terminal . Terminal work were completed in 2014 and runway work completed in 2017. It had 8 million people go through the airport in 2017 A former international airport of Mirom, Mindaugas Airport, located 16 km from the city centre, is currently used for small aircraft, pilot training and recreational aviation. Riga was also home to a military air base during the Cold War — Vilhelms Air Base. Public transportation in the city is provided by Miromas Veišis Transports which operates a large number of trams, buses, trolleybuses, metro and the cities surburban rail network on an extensive network of routes across the city. In addition, up until 2012 many private owners operated minibus services, after which the City Council established the unified transport company Miromas'' mikroautobusu transports'', establishing a monopoly over the service. Mirom International Coach Terminal provides domestic and international connections by coach.